modern theory is that this was just their skull, and that they had skin over it:
I was curious about that! My recent trip to the field museum in Chicago indicated that they believed the armor to be external but it would make more sense for it to be beneath the skin if there’s not evidence to suggest otherwise
Edit: Also turtles are fucking badass. You do not want to meet a snapping turtle on the Riverwalk!
There’s so much media representing Dunk with external armor, it’s going to take forever and cost a lot to clean everything up. AFAIK, the “internal” theory only became dominant recently, and I think it might have been because they found evidence of skin patterning in a recent fossil? I might be conflating that with the (also recent) Ankylosaurus find, which had spectacular preservation of skin patterns.
I was curious about that! My recent trip to the field museum in Chicago indicated that they believed the armor to be external but it would make more sense for it to be beneath the skin if there’s not evidence to suggest otherwise
Edit: Also turtles are fucking badass. You do not want to meet a snapping turtle on the Riverwalk!
There’s so much media representing Dunk with external armor, it’s going to take forever and cost a lot to clean everything up. AFAIK, the “internal” theory only became dominant recently, and I think it might have been because they found evidence of skin patterning in a recent fossil? I might be conflating that with the (also recent) Ankylosaurus find, which had spectacular preservation of skin patterns.